Literary Criticism

Supposing Bleak House

Name: Supposing Bleak House
Author: John O. Jordan

John O. Jordan

27 minAudio9 insights

What you'll learn

•The complex narrative voice and temporality of Esther Summerson in Bleak House.
•The role and interpretation of illustrations in Victorian novels, especially in Bleak House.
•Psychoanalytic concepts such as trauma, the dead mother complex, and mythic structures applied to literature.
•The multiplicity and ambiguity of endings in Bleak House and their narrative significance.
•Dickens's autobiographical influences and metafictional presence in Bleak House.
•The social and historical significance of ghosts and spectral imagery in the novel.
•The application of Derrida's hauntology to Victorian literature and social critique.

Who should read this

✓Students and scholars of Victorian literature
✓Readers interested in psychoanalytic literary criticism
✓Fans of Charles Dickens seeking deeper understanding
✓Those studying narrative theory and illustration in literature

About this book

A deep psychoanalytic and narratological study of Dickens's Bleak House, focusing on Esther Summerson's voice, illustration, trauma, and social ghosts.

Did You Know?

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The book reveals a previously unnoticed ghostly figure in the original Bleak House illustrations.

Audio Summary

Section 1

The Enigmatic Voice of Esther: Layers of Memory and Identity

3:45

9 Sections

Preview: The Enigmatic Voice of Esther: Layers of Memory and Identity

In the heart of this story lies a voice both delicate and profound, the voice of Esther Summerson. She speaks not merely of events but of the tangled web of memory and identity that shapes her very being. From the moment she discovers her mother’s cold, lifeless body, the narrative slows, each word weighted with the gravity of loss and the complexity of recognition.